Invision Studios is a film

production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...

based in

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. The company was founded by filmmakers Charles Mugaviri Jr., Blessing Chinanga and Denise Edwards in May 2013.

History

In January 2014, Edwards, Chinanga and Mugaviri created a platform called “In Short” where they invited amateur and aspiring filmmakers and

screenwriters A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

to send in their scripts, and direct their first short films with directing and producing assistance from the Invision founders. Invision Studios would produce 4-6 short films a month and would screen them at Book Cafe on the last Wednesday of every month. The Studio initiated to help launch people's film careers by aiding them with a crew, equipment and

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

guidance for free. Invision Studios got assistance from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and Pamberi Trust to cover production costs. The partnerships with the two entities helped the filmmakers’ group to travel to

Chinhoyi Chinhoyi, previously known as Sinoia during the colonial era, is a city in central northern Zimbabwe in the Makonde District. It has a population of 90,800 and is primarily a college town, although it was originally founded as an Italian group ...

Masvingo Masvingo, known as Fort Victoria during the colonial period, is a city in southeastern Zimbabwe and the capital of Masvingo Province. The city lies close to Great Zimbabwe, the national monument from which the country takes its name and clos ...

Gweru Gweru, originally known as Gwelo, is a city in central Zimbabwe. It is on the centre of Midlands Province. Originally an area known to the Ndebele as "The Steep Place" because of the Gweru River's high banks, in 1894 it became the site of a m ...

and

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...

producing short films they would have collaborated on with new filmmakers. In total, they produced over 38 short films in the 8 months In Short was running.

Productions

Invision Studios has produced several TV show productions that have been distributed and

broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

M-Net M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

's Zambezi Magic and ZBC (

Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) is the state-owned broadcaster in Zimbabwe. It was established as the Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation (RBC), taking its current name in 1980. Like the RBC before it, the ZBC has been accused of bein ...

''Far From Yesterday'' (2015)

In February 2015, Edwards, Chinanga and Mugaviri started developing a story for a

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

titled ''Far From Yesterday''. The screenplay, originally written and conceptualized by Denise Edwards in 2013, got into production half a month later. The film, which was produced over 3 months, starred Jonathan Denga, John Cole, Denise Edwards, Gani Phiri, Stacy Danana and Hannah Madzikanda. Ammara Brown was cast to feature in the film as well, making it her debut role in the film industry. ''Far From Yesterday'' earned Hannah Madzikanda her first award for Actress of the Year at the Zimbabwe International Women's Awards at the age of seven. It made her the youngest award-winning child actress in Zimbabwe, beating several acclaimed Zimbabwean actresses to land the award. The feature film is airing on M-Net's Mzansi Wethu channel.

''Wine & Dine with Tumi '' (2015)

In July 2015 Blessing, Charles and Denise began developing their first TV show concept. A cook show and artist-interview idea where at play, and what resulted was ''Wine & Dine with Tumi.'' The show was hosted by Tumi Moleko and featured high-profile Zimbabwean personalities who would cook a meal with the host and share some wine whilst conversing. At the time the production was wrapped, Multi-Choice had just launched its new channel,

Zambezi Magic Zambezi Magic is a 24-hour African general entertainment channel created by Multichoice for DStv. It is one of M-Net's local interest channels catering for Zambian, Zimbabwean, Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Lesotho and Namibian audiences. History ...

, dedicated to the Southern African region and bought the broadcasting license for Wine & Dine with Tumi, making it one of the first of two TV shows from Zimbabwe on the new channel, the other being Tonight with Zororo.

''Wedding Diaries'' (2016)

In February 2016 Invision Studios began production for a TV show titled ''Wedding Diaries''. The concept was developed by Denise Edwards and the show was produced by Blessing Chinanga. The show themes around married couples and how they organized their

weddings A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicities, races, religions, denominations, countries, social classes, and sexual orientations. Most weddi ...

. The show features wedding planner Kevin Zhou and

Evan Mawarire Evan Mawarire (born 7 March 1977) is a Zimbabwean pastor and democratic activist. He came to prominence during the 2016–17 Zimbabwe protests that challenged the rule of Robert Mugabe’s government. It was reported that Mawarire urged the peop ...

giving marriage counselling advice. The TV show was licensed by Multi-Choice to air on its

channel.

''Captain Mfombi'' (2019 - Present)

'' Captain Mfombi'' is

’s first

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

web series which is a creation of Charles Mugaviri Jr, Shaun Mundawarara, Denise Edwards and Blessing Chinanga which stars beat boxer cum rapper Pro Beatz, a Mufakose native. The series was launched late January 2021 on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

via the Pano TV channel bringing a local flair to the superhero scene.

References

{{reflist Zimbabwean Films Film production companies of Zimbabwe Companies based in Harare